Laura Choate Resilience Award

The Laura Choate Resilience Award is presented at the Oklahoma Fall Forum each year and sponsored by the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy (OICA) and Sunbeam Family Services.

The award was created to celebrate individuals who have been significantly impacted by adverse childhood experiences but have overcome obstacles, made a lasting contribution to the lives of young people, exhibit bravery, demonstrate dedication to fostering resilience in youth and and inspire resilience in youth by exhibiting the characteristics of the “7 Cs of Resilience:”

Competence: Taking notice of what young people are doing right and giving them opportunities to develop important skills.

Confidence: Ability to navigate the world, think outside the box, and recover from challenges.

Connection: Connections with youth and with communities that offer young people the security to stand on their own and develop creative solutions.

Character: Clear sense of right and wrong and commitment to integrity.

Contribution: Taking action to improve the well-being of others.

Coping: Ability to manage adverse experiences and exhibit resilience.

Control: Understanding and exhibiting characteristics of respect and responsibility.

This award is named for Laura Choate who has served as a lifelong advocate for Oklahoma children and was the first recipient of the Resilience Award. Choate has worked with the OICA to reform the state’s child welfare and juvenile justice system to better serve and protect Oklahoma children. As a youth, Choate served as a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit that resulted in dramatic changes to Oklahoma’s juvenile justice system and was used as a model by many other states to establish higher standards.

Note: these “7 Cs of Resilience” are based on the research of both Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg and the International Youth Foundation work of Rick Little and colleagues.

Winners of the Laura Choate Resilience Award Include:

2018

Will be announced at the Fall Forum in October, nominations close on September 14th 2018

2017

Thomasine Fife

Nominations are open through September 14th for the 2018 Laura Choate Resilience Award!

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